What makes a song popular?

What makes a song popular?

What makes some songs stand out more than others? As it turns out there are several reasons a song can be popular, however in this blog we are looking at it from a psychological perspective. We will be exploring two very specific reasons. It is important to note that different perspectives (such as a sociological view point or the music industry stand point) may yield different answers, however, on some level psychology is likely involved as it is the understanding of human behavior on an individual level.

People like patterns. It’s true. We recognize patterns quite quickly and tend to gravitate towards them. This is the same with music. If a part of the song is catchy and it repeats we will probably like it. Take the song ‘The Fighter’ by Keith Urban ft. Carrie Underwood. At the very start of the song, you’ll notice this fantastic catchy guitar rift. It plays throughout the song.

There is a psychological concept known as the mere exposure effect. It states that simply being exposed to something enough times will cause you to have positive associations with whatever you’re exposed to. Commercials rely on this tactic heavily. When you see the same commercial multiple times, you feel more familiar with the product, so if you happen to be shopping and you see said product you’ll be more likely to pick that particular one over others. The same applies to music. If a song is liked it will be played more. If it’s played ore then it will start to grow on the listeners.
If you want to read more about humans recognizing patterns (and a little about how that particular how machines are able to do the same) check out this link, it’s an interesting read: Humans Are the World’s Best Pattern-Recognition Machines, But for How Long?